MLB lockout could be ‘a big hit economically’ for Fenway and local businesses

The MLB lockout continues. As players and teams try to reach an agreement, putting Opening Day in jeopardy. Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic’s Red Sox beat writer, joined hosts Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel on Morning Edition to discuss what it means for the Red Sox, Fenway Park and local businesses. This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Paris Alston: So, Jen, the lockout can be kind of confusing from the outside. Could you give us a look at where things stand right now?

Jen McCaffrey: It's a very complicated topic. On a basic level, the MLB owners locked out the players on December 2nd. Throughout the winter, there have been a handful of meetings, but really, this week is crunch time for them. If they don't come to an agreement between both sides by next Monday, the start of the regular season is going to be put in jeopardy.

Right now, players would already be down in spring training, but they can't because they don't have a contract, basically. And so in order to get the Major League Baseball season regular season underway, which starts March 31st, they need about four weeks of spring training. And if they don't find an agreement by March 1st, it's going to probably end up canceling some games. And the Red Sox start out at Fenway in that timeframe, in late March. So it's crunch time right now. They're meeting every day down in Jupiter, Florida, both sides. They're making very slight progress, but there's still a long way to go and we only have a few days left here.

Jeremy Siegel: What's happening at these meetings? What are the sticking points in negotiations?

McCaffrey: There are a variety of topics. The big topics are contracts for the younger players, minimum salary, expanded playoffs, a universal designated hitter for the National League and the American League — it's already in the American League, they want to make it across the board — basically, how wages and things are figured out in free agency. When players go into free agency and get these big contracts, how those are handled, how teams are taxed. It's a lot of legal jargon.

Siegel: If this isn't resolved soon, it could affect opening day. It could mean we don't we don't have games on time at Fenway. What does that mean for both fans here and for people who work at the park?

McCaffrey: It would be really frustrating, especially coming off of the past couple of seasons where, in 2020, it was a shortened season because of COVID, obviously. And they missed half the year, they only played 60 games in 2020. 2021 sort of got back to normal, but obviously in the beginning of the year was limited capacity. So I think people were hoping baseball would provide some normalcy. But now there's this labor stoppage, and I think that's extremely frustrating for people.

And for people that work there, obviously it's lost revenue, and I think that's why both sides are trying to work this out before then and why a lot of people think it will get worked out. They keep, each day, upping the numbers a little bit and the other side will decrease their numbers are a little bit, so it seems like they're getting slightly closer together. It would be a lot of lost revenue for the teams themselves with ticket revenue, for the players because their salaries, and also for the people that work there, the concession workers who work per game and all the businesses around Fenway, all the bars, all the restaurants, the Uber drivers, the drivers bringing people to and from the park. So yeah, it'd be a big hit economically.

Alston: I think sometimes it's hard for us to think of MLB players as regular employees like everybody else who are trying to get things negotiated and that can stop a lot of things. And Jen, you mentioned, we thought that this year was going to be way better. Marathon Monday is around the corner, though, and the Red Sox were supposed to host the Twins that morning at 11:10, what are the chances we will actually get that Patriot's Day game?

McCaffrey: I think that by that point, by late April, things will be sorted out. I think if anything, there'll be a delay of a week or so. And I know that's getting tight for Marathon Monday. There's hundreds of millions of dollars here at stake for both sides and because both sides, players and owners, lost so much money in 2020, I think they're really focusing on that and not that they want to give up concessions on either side, but it also would be a bigger hit on both sides to lose games this year as well.

And if they want to play a full season, they'd have to make these games up in double headers later in the year. So there's all these kind of domino effects that I think they really are trying to figure this out within the next week. Marathon Monday is obviously a huge deal around here, and to get back to normal would just be so big for the community. I think that for a variety of reasons, they're really, really trying to get this done by next week so that they can start the regular season on time, March 31st.

Siegel: Once the lockout does hopefully end. What are we looking at for the 2022 season?

McCaffrey: It's going to be interesting if some of these rules changes are put in place. Just from an immediate, nitty gritty perspective, once there's an agreement made, they'll give players about a week or so to report to spring training in Florida and Arizona. They'd have about four weeks. But you know, one of the things you have to keep in mind is that their spring training is going to be a lot shorter than it normally is. And I'm very curious to see how pitchers are going to be able to ramp up and be ready for spring training. And so, are you going to see a lot more injuries across the board because guys are trying to get ready quicker?

The other thing is, because there had been the lockout all winter, a lot of the free agent signings and trades that you'd normally see throughout the whole winter haven't been able to happen because there was no agreement between players and owners. And so, there's going to be an immense amount of news in terms of players changing teams or signing with new teams or trades happening, so that will absolutely affect the Red Sox.